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Offshore motion forecasts

Vessel roll motion on operations is a major challenge to the increasing number of floating facilities in the continental shelf and deepwater locations around the world. Poor weather can cause operational delays and costly damage from unexpected conditions.

Offshore motion forecasts (OMF) delivered through o forecast portal, will provide reliable hour-by-hour predictions on how wave, current and weather conditions will affect the response of floating offshore facilities. The predictions are calculated for a specific location and vessel, and will help offshore operators plan ahead to mitigate against any possible disruptions caused by a particular alignment of marine conditions, as well as more routine situations involving adverse weather.

The analytical equations that are used to predict the forecast will work for any floating facility, such as a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO). Using the specifications of the vessel (e.g. length, beam, draft, etc.), the marine weather forecast is overlayed to first predict the orientation of the vessel, hour-by-hour for the next seven days. Then, the heave, pitch and roll of the vessel are calculated for the seven-day forecast horizon.

Offshore marine forecasts will help offshore companies make informed operational decisions for their floating facilities, based on the upcoming marine weather conditions.

This new forecasting tool will be offered to oil and gas operators, as well as to the support industries in Western Australia in the last quarter of 2014.